post petition debt

[dylancarly]

I filed for chapter13 in 2006. In the first few months after filing I was having a hard time paying my phone, cable and internet bill which was with one company. I cancelled these services and had a 600 dollar balance and got new services. I have been paying 10 dollars a month for about 2 years. Balance is under 400. Well the company sold my debt to a collection agency and they are calling and harassing me and asking me who my bankruptcy attorney is and said 10 dollars a month is not acceptable. I suppose some of this balance was before my filing, I think most was after, but I was not aware I could(should) have included it in my filing. Any thoughts?.

Thanks

[lrprn]

I suppose some of this balance was before my filing, I think most was after, but I was not aware I could(should) have included it in my filing. Any thoughts?.

I'm assuming that since the collection agency is contacting you during your active Ch 13 that you did NOT include the combined utility company on your creditor list for what you owed them on filing day.

Bottom line is you are going to have to find a way to pay at least what you owe on this bill from after you filed - you can't add any post-filing debt to your current Ch 13 plan.

If you didn't include the company on your creditor list, then unless your lawyer thinks it's worthwhile to go back and amend your plan to include them at this point so the collections company has to cease contact, then you owe the entire bill and will have to pay it. Also including a utility in your bankruptcy can have some long-lasting impact with significantly increased downpayments to continue services. For that reason most lawyers will advise not including a utility in your bankruptcy if you can avoid it.

Interesting that the utility worked out a payment plan with you but then sent you on to collections anyway. Were you late making your payments to the original utility company at some point?

[Flamingo]

Debts incurred after filing Chapter 13 are your own responsibility. It is not clear from your posting whether some of the initial $600 "a few months after filing" was prior to your filing or incurred after filing. With a small balance due of under $400, and on a bill you have been paying by yourself out of the plan for two years, you might have a hard time proving this was prior to your filing since you paid on it for so long but in any event, contact your attorney and ask. If you can afford to keep making your Plan payments and pay a little more than $10 a month to the other place to keep them happy, I would certainly do that because the bill is small, plus you don't want any nonpayments or late payments of any sort during your Plan period.